Gender Roles Played by Viola

Viola is my personal favorite character in The Twelfth Night. Not only is she trying to hide her identity ad  stay alive, she is also trying to fight off a woman from loving her. That to me shows that she is one beautiful and skilled person. My hat goes to viola because I feel like for her to pretend to be a man is hard. If anyone has seen the movie Shakespeare In Love, the women who was Juliet had wrap up her breasts and wear a hat on her head so that they would not believe that she was a woman. I feel as if Viola must do the same thing. Also please consider that woman are naturally more gentle than men are, so I believe that it is extremely hard. Especially when Olivia is constantly throwing herself at Viola/Cesario in Act 3. I believe the reason behind this is that women, in general, all want to wanted and treated respectfully by the other sex. Even though Viola is playing a boy, the way she acts is still of a women and I believe that this is why Olivia has an attraction to her. This also shows how looks can deceive a person also. We all discussed in class the way that some men and women have features of the opposite sex. examples would be like Justin Bieber with his soft featured face and Lady Gaga who can pull off wearing men clothing. Many would argue against me that women roles were played by men during the time of Shakespeare, but we must also consider that in a modern play now women play the women roles. I know that I am late on posting and for that I truly apologize. But am I the only one who is enjoying seeing Viola “undercover.”